Migros Bank Review 2024 – Good Traditional Bank in Switzerland
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I have used Migros Bank as my primary bank account for several years. They offer good service at excellent prices. Considering the expensive bank accounts in Switzerland, these fees are essential to consider.
In this article, I review the bank account offering of Migros Bank in detail. We see all their prices and how they compare against other Swiss banks.
| Yearly fee | 0 CHF |
|---|---|
| Users | N/A |
| Card | Visa Debit |
| Currencies | CHF |
| Withdrawals in Switzerland | Free at Migros ATMs, 2 CHF at other |
| Withdrawals abroad | 5 CHF |
| Languages | French, German, and Italian |
| Custody bank | Migros Bank |
| Depositor protection | 100’000 CHF |
| Established | 1958 |
| Headquarters | Zürich, Switzerland |
Migros Bank
Migros Bank is the bank of the Migros group. It is an old bank. It was founded more than 60 years ago, in 1958. Since I am already a Migros customer, I feel confident about this bank.
Since they are an official bank, your assets will be insured for up to 100’000 CHF in case of bankruptcy. This is the case for all official banks in Switzerland. It is essential to know what would happen to your money in case of bank bankruptcy.
Migros Bank has an excellent reputation in Switzerland. They serve more than 800’000 customers in Switzerland. This high number of customers makes them one of the biggest banks in Switzerland per number of customers.
So, we will see in detail what Migros Bank is about.
This article has been updated for the new fees from April 2024.
Migros Bank Fees
My main reason for looking for a new bank was to look for a free bank. Since all bank accounts in Switzerland have a zero interest rate, it is essential to look at the fees.
The most significant advantage of Migros Bank is that it does not charge management fees. And there is no minimum for being free.
Another advantage of the bank is that the Debit Card is free. Migros Bank is among the few banks that offer free debit cards. Most debit cards in Switzerland cost 30 CHF per year. I do not plan to use the credit card from Migros since I already have the best credit card in Switzerland.
While the base account is free, some operations are not. You must pay 0.30 CHF for each SEPA transfer in Europe. You can probably negate this by using Revolut, Wise, or Neon.
The other fee is the withdrawal fee for ATMs other than Migros ATM:
- 2 CHF for each withdrawal in CHF in Switzerland
- 4 CHF for each withdrawal in EUR in Switzerland
- 5 CHF for each withdrawal abroad
However, this should not be a big issue for several reasons.
- You can withdraw money at each Migros Bank, Migros Shops, Migrolino, and Migrol stations. So, there are many withdrawal points all over Switzerland. If you count all these locations as ATMs, Migros Bank is probably the bank with the most ATMs in Switzerland. There should be more than enough to withdraw money when you need it.
- You do not often need cash. In most cases, you can pay with your credit or debit card. Using your credit card is free, and you will receive some cashback. Using a debit card in Switzerland is also free.
You will probably not have to worry about these fees. In three years, I have never paid to withdraw money with my Migros card.
There are other fees for payment abroad. But this is not an issue since I will also use my Neon or Revolut accounts.
Given all this, Migros Bank is among Switzerland’s cheapest Brick and Mortar banks.
Migros Bank Features
We can also look at the features offered by the standard accounts at Migros Bank.
Since June 2022, Migros Bank does not have a Maestro but a Visa Debit card. As far as features go, it is the same. However, there are still some places where Maestro cards are useful because that is all they accept. Fortunately, these places are disappearing.
Overall, the visa debit is quite convenient. And the card comes for free, which is also good.
With Migros Bank, you can do many operations in the Migros Bank offices. And you will also be able to do some operations in Migros shops.
But most people will use the banking of Migros Bank to do most operations. You can use the banking application from Migros Bank on Apple phones and tablets, Android phones and tablets, and on Mac and Windows.
This mobile application takes a different approach to security than most other applications. Indeed, you will need to install this application on at least two devices. You will often need a second device to validate transactions from your account.
The Migros Bank application is quite bad. It is slow, and I have had many issues. Moreover, it is a pain to have to install it on two devices. I would have preferred online e-banking like most banks. I do not want to install a banking application on my desktop computer. For me, the quality of applications is the biggest pain point with this bank account.
In addition, Migros Bank introduced a new application in 2023. However, the new application does not work better than the old one, has fewer features, and is less stable. They also did not manage to simplify the use of multiple devices.
However, the application has all the features you will need:
- Make money transfers
- Scan paper bills
- Pay ebills
- Pay with Google Pay
So, if you do not have to use it too often, the Migros application will do everything you need.
Since May 2021, Migros has had full support for TWINT. You can download the Twint Migros application next to the Migros application and start using Twint for your mobile payments.
Alternatives
We should also compare Migros Bank with some alternatives.
Migros Bank vs Neon
All the services you need to pay, save and invest, in a neat package, with extremely good prices!
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- Pay abroad for free
- Invest with great fees
Neon is a great digital bank from Switzerland. They offer an attractive bank account.
The main difference between Neon and Migros Bank is that Neon is an entirely digital bank. On the other hand, Migros Bank has offices, and you can get help from people directly.
Used correctly, both bank accounts are entirely free. But Neon has some advantages that Migros Bank does not have:
- Purchases abroad with the Neon card are free.
- Thanks to their partnership with Wise, international money transfers are cheaper with Neon.
Both Neon and Migros have some stability issues with their apps. However, the Neon app is much better than the Migros Bank app.
Overall, Neon is better than Migros Bank. However, many people do not want to use an entirely digital bank, so Migros Bank will be great for them.
One advantage of Migros Bank is that it has significantly higher limits than Neon. So, it could be better for your main account if you have to do some more substantial transactions.
If you want more details, I have an entire review of Neon.
Migros Bank vs PostFinance
PostFinance was my previous bank before I changed to Migros Bank.
The main issue with PostFinance is that you have to pay 5 CHF in management fees every month. They only waive this fee if you invest more than 25’000 CHF in their products. However PostFinance investment products are bad, so using their products is not a great way to waive the fee.
So, Migros Bank’s main advantage over PostFinance is that the account is free.
Other than that, both banks have about the same features and fees. There is nothing exceptional about any of these two banks. They are standard banks. PostFinance has one advantage: its applications are significantly better than those from Migros.
Overall, Migros is significantly better than PostFinance since they have the same features but are significantly cheaper. If you want more information, I have done an extensive review of PostFinance.
FAQ
What is the minimum for a Migros Bank account?
There is no minimum.
How much do I need for my Migros Bank account to be free?
There is no minium, a Migros Bank account is free, since April 2024.
Who is Migros Bank for?
Migros Bank is good for people that want an affordable traditional (non-digital) bank.
Who is Migros Bank for?
Migros Bank is not good for people that want a digital bank. And it is also not good for people that want good mobile apps. Finally, there may be some cheaper traditional bank alternatives with some cantonal banks.
Migros Bank Summary
Migros Bank offers traditional bank accounts at a relatively fair price.
Product Brand: Migros
3.5
Migros Bank Pros
Let's summarize the main advantages of Migros Bank:
- Free management of your account
- Good customer service
- Offers a free Visa debit card
- Can withdraw cash for free in many places
- Support for Google Pay
- Support for eBills
- Support for TWINT
Migros Bank Cons
Let's summarize the main disadvantages of Migros Bank:
- Terrible banking applications
- No Maestro card
- Support is not free if you have issues with the apps
Conclusion
When my previous bank (PostFinance) raised fees from 0 to 60 CHF per year, I needed to change bank. I did not want to pay more for no new advantages. Therefore, I had to research the cheapest bank in Switzerland.
After some research, I discovered that Migros Bank is now among the cheapest traditional banks in Switzerland.
The account itself is free. And there will only be fees for operations you can generally avoid.
I have now been using Migros Bank for about three years. Overall, I am relatively happy with their services. They offer good service at a reasonable price. The only thing I dislike about them is their applications. All their applications and the way they are linked together are pretty bad.
You can get a free digital bank account if you prefer digital banks. For instance, you could go with Neon. This bank account is entirely free!
If you want to learn how to change bank accounts, I have a guide on switching to a new bank.
What do you think about the new fees? Which bank do you use? Do you plan to leave PostFinance because of this?
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Migros Bank is offering TWINT from May this year 2021!
Good news indeed for those that like Twint. I will update the article for this information. Thanks for sharing!
HI many thanks for the different post please could you advise the best bank for a USD account that could be opened online?
thanks
Hi Max,
I am afraid I do not know of any good USD account in Switzerland. I have heard that many people used the one from PostFinance, but I have no idea if it’s good or if it can be used online.
Thanks a lot for your article!
Is there English version of their mobile banking? Do customer service ppl speak English?
What is the current state of mobile banking apps? Is the same story with no web version and having to install 2 apps? I see that article last time was updated in 2018, so some things could change.
Hi Mr. Poor Swiss,
I recently moved to Switzerland (from Spain) and your posts really help me, so thanks.
I opened a Migros bank, and I realized I can’t use Twint app with this bank. Is it right? Is there any similar alternative? I think Twint is a useful app to pay other people in a few seconds.
Thanks!
Hi Jana,
I have never used Twint, but looking at it, it seems indeed that you can’t use Twint with this bank. But I think you can use the Migros App with Migros Bank, it’s more limited than Twint.
So, if you really need Twint, you will have to use another bank account. You may consider Neon that supports Twint.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Mr. The Poor Swiss,
We are a young family that it’s moving to Switzerland to start a new job,life etc. As I am in charge with the banking part (and not really in the banking domain), I am trying to find the best combination of bank account and credit/debit card that can help us save as much as possible.
My wife and me, we each have a french bank account(with some saving in it that are more than 20K euro) that we will want to close in a couple of months.
The info you are posting on this blog is really good and it helps me a lot while choosing the right combination, however I have some questions:
1. For BCV (Bank of the state Of Vaud), you are stating fees of 0 CHF per year, but when checking their website I can’t see any product that has 0 fees. I am looking at “Family Direct banking pack”, which needs 15.000 CHF in assets to be “free”. Am I correct?
2. We like to travel from time to time(mostly in Europe), so I think a Revolut account would make sense too. I am just thinking what happens if we are outside Swiss and need to pay an amount of money that it’s bigger than 1000 Euros(you are suggesting to only keep about 500CHF in the Revolut account)? What would you do: get cash, do online payment, etc?
3. I can still apply for a N26 bank account, would you suggest to do it or not? What I am thinking is to apply for a Revolut account for myself and open a N26 account for my wife.
My post is a bit messy, however I think that my choices are:
For all the spending’s in Swiss I have BCV or Migros Bank, for the rest it’s Revolut or N26
Hi Vic,
1. You are right, it seems that there is a limit. It may have changed since I wrote the article. Or maybe I did not check correctly. Migros also has a limit of 7500 CHF.
2. A Revolut account would indeed make a a lot of sense for you. I am suggesting this on the long-term. If I am going to travel and I am going to use my travel card a lot, I will put more money on it. There will be no problem to put 2000 EUR or more on your Revolut card to plan for your vacation. I just do not like having too much money on it when I do not use it.
3. You could open a N26 account instead of Revolut. However, there are few advantages for it. You can read my review of N26. The big problem would be that you will not have a CH IBAN. That means that every time you are going to load money, you will need to pay fees. Or you could send CHF money to your Revolut account and then send EUR money from your Revolut to N26. It could be interesting to have both, but it won’t make a lot of differences.
For your choices, I would say either Migros Bank or Neon Bank. I would go with Revolut in your case. But Revolut and N26 could also be interesting.
I hope I am helping a bit :)
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Mr. The Poor Swiss,
Thanks for the review! I have two questions:
Is there any reason why you picked MigrosBank over BCV Direct Pack? The limit for waived fees is higher (10’000 CHF). But there are no fees for payment orders. And you can withdraw money for free from any ATM from any cantonal bank (not only BCV).
Another thing: It looks like MigrosBank added a credit card “Visa Free” with the same conditions as the Cumulus Mastercard. So there is no need for the Cumulus Mastercard now, right?
Hi Gerster,
There are two reasons:
* A bad one: As a Fribourg canton resident, I do not want to have an account at the cantonal bank of another canton :)
* A better one: Migros has many more places where you can withdraw money: All Migros shops, banks, Migrolino, and many more Migros-owned shops.
You are right, it seems like Visa Free is a very good replacement for the Cumulus Mastercard. If this is not managed by Cembra but by Migros bank, this would be good. Because, Cembra online application is terribly bad. Migros apps are not great, but compared to Cembra’s, there are still ahead. They mention a standard limit of 3000 CHF. This may be too little for many people. I do not know if they can up this. But really interesting, thanks for sharing!
Hello Mr. The Poor Swiss,
I’ve just found your blog and this is one of the articles I started with. Let me first of all thank you for sharing your ideas and give you my minor feedback. When I read something in the Internet I find it very helpful if I can easily identify the publish date. I could not find this information on the web page. Only looking at the dates of comments I can more or less conclude the date of the article. So, this is something you might want to improve if you wish.
As for PostFinance, I have a private account there and I absolutely agree with you that it is not fair to charge 60 CHF for exactly the same service. Let me ask you several questions in this regard:
1) You mentioned: “The first thing I did when I saw the news was directly to close the two savings accounts.” Why? As far as I know, the savings accounts remain free of charge.
2) You also wrote: “For some people, there is a way to get the fees waived. You need to have 25’000 CHF invested in funds in PostFinance.” Please correct me if I am wrong, but it is not only about investing in funds. Custody account assets in e-trading are also classified as investment, right?
So, why not to consider PostFinance as a broker? In this case the annual fee will be 90 CHF, but you will not have to pay account management fee of 60. I am not an investor yet, but I am thinking about this. And sorry, if my questions sound stupid.
Hello Aleksei,
I will consider putting back the publish date on my posts. Thanks for the suggestion!
1) I did that directly in order to do the transition faster. I directly closed my savings accounts in order to prepare to move my private account faster. I agree that this is not very clear in my post.
2) You are correct. On my first read, I didn’t see that etrading custody assets are indeed counted towards the 25’0000. I just read it again and it is specified in one of the details.
As to use Postfinance as a broker, it is a very expensive broker. You will have to pay the Swiss stamp duty tax (0.15%) that you would not have to pay with IB or DEGIRO. These days, I invest around 4000 CHF per month. At PostFinance, it would cost me about 500 CHF per year. At IB, I have to pay 120 CHF per year. And it will go down next year since I will have a balance higher than 100K. If you look at their fees (https://www.postfinance.ch/en/private/products/digital-banking/e-trading/brokerage-fees-and-other-charges.html), you will see that they are quite high.
It’s great that you are thinking about this! And no, your questions are not stupid at all!
Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for your reply, Mr. The Poor Swiss.
May I ask you another question which is not related to the main topic, but connected to your reply: “You will have to pay the Swiss stamp duty tax (0.15%) that you would not have to pay with IB or DEGIRO.” In fact, you touched a very interesting topic – Swiss taxes. I have to admit, that this is a gray area for me so far, so I would like to know more about this before I start my investing journey. As far as I know, tax law distinguishes between capital earnings and capital gains. Capital earnings: interest and dividends. This is taxable income – 35% must be paid. (I am not sure how to get interest from shares or ETFs. Probably, it is only possible if you invest in bonds.) Capital gains is shares price increases and it is not taxed. Another type of taxes is Swiss federal stamp duties. They are levied on each purchase and sale of shares, bonds, ETFs and so on. Stamp duties on Swiss shares: 0.075%. Stamp duties on foreign shares: 0.15%. And you want to say that we can simply work around paying stamp duties by choosing a right broker (which is not Swiss broker), right?
I actually have many more questions about Swiss taxes (e.g. do investors need to fill any kind of declaration yearly or all the taxes are automatically deducted by your broker, what taxes are involved when buying international securities and so on). It would be great if based on your experience you could write a short article about taxes paid by investors who are Swiss residents and some tips and tricks to minimize them. Thank you.
You’re welcome.
You got it entirely right. This “stamp tax” can be entirely avoided by using a non-swiss broker. I think that’s pretty dumb. But that’s the way it is. And that’s one reason you should not use a Swiss-broker. And for capital gains versus interest, you are entirely right as well.
That’s a great idea for a post indeed! I’ll put it on my list. I cannot give you an ETA, but I will definitely work on that.
Hey,
Have you heard about the Alternative Bank Switzerland ? Here’s the link for their website : https://www.bas.ch/fr/ (it’s fully available only in French and German unfortunately)
The annual fee is only CHF 36.– per year for their basic account (plus CHF 30.- per year for the Maestro Debit Card), but if you are able and willing to invest in them by buying 10 shares, the fees drop to CHF 0.- (even for the Maestro Debit Card).
I personally find it interesting because by buying their stocks you support sustainable and alternative investment.
Cheers
Hi Charles,
No, I never heard of it before. It looks very interesting. I think it is a really good idea on their side. On the other hand, this represents an investment of more than one thousand CHF. I am not ready to invest so much in a single bank.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing !
May I make a suggestion? Why not take the package “CA Essenciel” from CA Next Bank (Credit Agricole)?
Provided you have a balance > 20k (which you seem to have, given you were a PF+ Customer), you’ll have free ATM withdrawals, no incoming payment fees or account management fees. Their saving accounts offer attractive .5%, too. There is a withdrawal period for the saving account, but if you treat your emergency fund, like I do mine, you will manage to get around that, too.
I’m having some trouble seeing why you’d choose Migros. I get the point of wanting a physical location close by, but then you shouldn’t consider Cler either. Don’t underestimate the incoming payment fee – every incoming twint payment will be taxed, and that can add up quickly. BCV offers free cantonal withdrawals + 1 free non-cantonal bank withdrawal, which should fit your situation perfectly. Is there something I’m not seeing or are you weeny bit biased because you already have and like the cumulus card?
But this is just my 2 cents, I like your articles a lot and will go to the same transition as you, so I wanted to share my reflections :)
Hello,
Please, make all the suggestions you want!!
I had a balance of more than 25K at PostFinance, but only because my third pillar was here. But since my third pillar will not move to the new bank, my balance will be around 10K and sometimes less.
The CA package is indeed a good package but only if you have a balance of more than 20K. Below that, it is very expensive, at 15 CHF per month.
As for the incoming payments: since I also have a Revolut account, I will dispatch some of my payment there. If I accumulate too much money on Revolut I can send it back to my account and pay only one big incoming payment for several small.
I may be a bit biased but not with Migros. I am a bit biased against BCV. I know it does not make sense financially, but I do not want my account at one of the cantonal bank from another state. It is not a good reason, I know, but I cannot help it ;)
Thanks for stopping by and sharing :) I really appreciate it :)
Thanks for this great article. I just want to give you some input:
You cannot use Revolut for incoming payments, because they use a shared IBAN vor CHF payments. (They have been promising personal IBans for over a year, but my guess would be that they wont be coming anytime soon) And also the bank right now is outside of Switzerland, so there would be a hefty SWIFT transaction fee for every payment. I personally receive around 5-30 small payments (inc. Twint/CashBack etc.) per month, so Migros Bank can quickly become even more expansive than Postfinance. In my opinion this in-transparent nasty fee that you cannot control yourself is way worse than the CHF 5 p.M. from Postfinance… So I would not consider them even for a second. Also the Cumulus Mastercard you have doesn’t have any link with Migros Bank – it is issued by Cembra Moneybank, the only link is the logo on the card and the fact that you get Cumulus Points.
Regarding physical location of your bank, just ask yourself this question: Have you ever had to visit your bank? Because at least I did not need to visit my bank (postfinance) even once during my whole live. So I went with BCV, my account is already opened and everything looks great so far. I didn’t need to visit them to open the account, opening can be done online and you sign with Mobile ID. They even send the letter in German (I don’t even speak french) to Zurich.
I already have a ZAK account but it’s not an option for me because there is too much missing right now: No Banking from PC, no payments above 10k (How should I pay taxes), no E-Bills, no withdrawl from other banks.
Hello Thaek,
Thanks :)
Yeah, I know very well about the Revolut issue. But I’m using TransferWise as an intermediary before Revolut. This makes transfers free. I am also guessing that they are not getting that CHF IBAN for a long while now. I maybe receive 30 payments per year, so it’s not a big deal for me.
Actually, I had to visit PostFinance twice in that time. It’s not a big deal, but still a thing.
Yeah, ZAK is interesting, but too much missing features yet. It may come in the future though.
As I said before, I’m biased against BCV without any good reason. It’s an excellent option, no denying that. I’m just not getting to open an at BCV.
Thanks for stopping by Thaek :)
CA Next Bank doesn’t seam to support E-Bill – so while otherwise attractive – not an option for me.
That is true, but I am not sure it would entirely block me from using their services. I also noticed the same thing with Zak. It is a big disadvantage indeed. Not quite sure it’s a blocker for me.
I have been with PostFinance since I arrived in Switzerland in 2003.
I’m not happy that they’re raising their fees.
BCGE isn’t quite as great as BCV, they do have a few fees and charges, but I have my mortgage account with them. I really do like the idea of having all my accounts in one place, and at the minute I have the financial cushion to make the move.
But then I think about the online interface of BCGE compared with PostFinance. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown with PostFinance over the past 15 years, but I know how to do everything and where to find everything. With BCGE, I still struggle.
Thanks for a thought provoking post.
Hello Kate,
Having all accounts in the same place is a big advantage indeed. I really liked it before. But then, I had to use DEGIRO because PostFinance is really bad at etrading. And then, I had to use Revolut because all Swiss credit cards are bad at foreign transactions, and so on. So finally, I’m thinking that one or more outside of my main bank is no big deal :P
I also worry a bit about changing the online interface. I really liked the one from PostFinance and I’ve grown used to it. From what I’ve seen, Migros is really really inferior on that side. But I still think it’s worth the switch.
Thanks for stopping by :)
Yeah, I had already moved from the PostFinance Visa to the Miles and More Mastercard, and I miss not having those transactions as part of the e-cockpit. So, it’s true, I already have accounts spread across three institutions now… I will talk to my account manager at BCGE to see how hard it is to move a 3eme pilier.
I really enjoy your blog. It’s one of the few PF blogs based in Suisse Romande, and while I appreciate the ones out of the Swiss German side, yours is much more relevant.
Zak gives you 50chf for joining and 50 for every referral.
This easily covers ATM costs
Hi Mauro,
I forgot to mention the 50 CHF reward for joining. I just added now to the article. That would indeed cover about 5 years of fees for me.
As for the referrals, it is not something I want to rely on. We do not know how long they are going to keep that up. And I do not know if I could refer anybody.
Thanks for this extra information :)